This invention relates generally to the field of supply chain management and, more particularly, to a system and method for visually representing a supply chain.
Computer implemented planning and scheduling systems are widely used for factory, enterprise, and supply chain planning functions. In general, such systems can model manufacturing or other environments and provide plans or schedules for producing items to fulfill consumer demand within the constraints of the environment. A supply chain can be defined as the collection of suppliers, factories, distribution centers, and customers of a company or set of companies that bring products from production to market.
In accordance with the present invention, a system and method for visually representing a supply chain reduce or eliminate problems associated with supply chains.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a computer-related system for visually representing a supply chain includes a supply chain physical window. The supply chain physical window displays a plurality of supply chain entities, at least one supply chain bar adjacent a corresponding supply chain entity, and at least one connector between two of the supply chain entities. The supply chain bar provides data related to the adjacent supply chain entity, and the connector represents product flow between the two supply chain entities.
The system and method of the present invention provide a number of important technical advantages. The present invention provides a visual representation that is updated when a supply chain plan is changed through manual or automated replanning or rescheduling. Furthermore, within the visual representation, a user may call an underlying planning or scheduling engine to resolve a problem or manually manipulate the plan. In addition, graphical windows are coordinated to respond to commands generated using other windows.
In addition, a supply chain physical window may display an entire supply chain and show data about the supply chain in either two-dimensions or three-dimensions. The physical window includes supply chain entities and supply chain connectors providing data related to product flow between entities. Supply chain bars provide data associated with the supply chain entities and connectors. The physical window may provide geographical, logical, or combined views of the supply chain and is navigable to allow a user to see various views and depths of detail. The physical window may animate the supply chain over time using the bar data, may show how a product moves through the supply chain by highlighting supply chain entities, connectors, or bars affecting the product, and may display pop-up windows that show data associated with selected supply chain entities, connectors, or bars.
With these advances, a supply chain planner or scheduler can more effectively understand the dynamic problems and performance issues associated with the supply chain through a complete visualization, and can better solve and optimize the plan or schedule. Additional technical advantages will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.